It’s Tuesday afternoon at the Sandy Bell Gallery of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. The natural light showering the galleries above barely makes it down the stairwell to the space where Dr. Konstantinos Karathanasis, Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Technology, is performing.

Dr. Konstantinos Karathanasis, performing at the Tuesday Noon Concert Series at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

Credit Cailey Dougherty

This intimate concert is part of the Tuesday Noon Concert series, a weekly 30-minute musical showcase at the museum.

“I think it’s very inspiring because we are surrounded by abstract paintings, abstract art and this type of music is very similar to it.” Karathanasis said. “It is abstract too, in the sense that you can rarely recognize melodies, rhythms and harmonies so in the same way we enjoy abstract art for the colors and the shapes and the textures, we also enjoy contemporary, electro-acoustic music for the same reasons, for the colors of the sounds and for the textures.”

While some might put music in a wholly different category than painting or sculpture, Karathanasis would argue that the two mediums are actually very much alike.

“In a certain way, it is very similar to the way a visual artist works, a sculptor.” said Karathanasis. “Because we do not deal with abstract ideas of sound, we do not deal with notes and chords, we have an immediate feedback on what we do in exactly the same way visual artists, sculptors or painters has an immediate feedback on his actions on paper or on the material he or she works.”

Worth Middleton, a resident of Norman and regular patron of the museum, says he attends as many concerts as he can; he only missed one or two last semester.

“I’d say this is more like a high point in my week. I’m retired and I don’t have a whole lot to do and I look forward to coming down here every week.” Middleton said. “For me, it’s easy to get here and it’s free, there’s no hassle, it’s a weekly event, there is always something new and different to look forward to and it’s a wonderful thing.”

Dr. Karathanasis says he really enjoys when visitors like Middleton can come to concerts and experience his music with him.

“We compose music, not just for our own sake, we compose music to be able to share it with other people.” said Karathanasis.

Dr. Karathanasis’ music is not typical of the music performed by other artists in the Tuesday Noon Concert Series. His work requires hours of heavy editing behind a screen.

“It’s food for imagination. Some people compare it as cinema for the ears, where you are subjected to different sounds and then you imagine, you let your imagination run wild and make the sense for your own.”

The Tuesday Noon Concert Series will continue weekly through April 23, 2013.

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